Guide to Monsters: Displacer Beast - Dungeons & Dragons Honor Among Thieves (2024)

What looks like a black panther with six legs, two tentacles sprouting from its shoulders, and is dangerous enough that the characters in Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves movie leaped into a gelatinous cube to dodge out of the way of its attack? That would be a displacer beast.

Taking its name from its ability to make itself appear to be several feet from its actual position by using light displacement, this classic D&D creature first made its appearance in the 1975 Greyhawk supplement. Dungeons & Dragons Art & Arcana: A Visual History suggests the original concept was borrowed from A. E. van Vogt’s pulp-era short story Black Destroyer. Though the concept illustration never made it to print, the original displacer beast had shoulder tentacles that looked more like thorny vines than its current iteration.

You might be asking yourself what’s up with the extra legs and weird tentacles? Well, these otherworldly creatures have unseelie origins and used to roam free in the Feywild. That is, until they were captured by members of the Gloaming Court and trained as ferocious hunters to track down wondrous prey like unicorns. Of course, the displacer beasts eventually escaped captivity and did what any malevolent monstrosity with a beef would do: caused absolute havoc. Naturally, this chaos spilled over into the seelie lands, and it was ultimately the Summer Court hunters, with the assistance of the goodest blink dogs, drove these predators out into the Material Plane. Thus began the long-term rivalry between fantasy puppers and kitties.

If you’re a DM who wants to run an adventure that features a displacer beast, the key feature to keep in mind is their displacement ability. The displacer beast projects a magical illusion that makes it appear to be standing near its actual location, causing attack rolls against it to have disadvantage. If you’re using tokens from the Roll20 Marketplace, remember that as you position the creature. You might even conceal its true position with a token on the GM layer.

When it comes to combat, a displacer beast is fast with 40-foot movement speed. It’s also mostly a brute predator with high Strength and Constitution. Although it has more intelligence than a panther, it’s not a tactician and still relies mostly on instinct. If it is hit by an attack, its displacement trait is disrupted until the end of its next turn. This trait is also disrupted while the displacer beast is incapacitated or has a speed of 0. So, when a displacer beast is hit, its reaction is dependent on its positioning in relation to an enemy’s. Think about it: if you have one unique thing going for you, especially from a survival perspective, you’re not going to willingly put yourself in a position where you can’t use it. Likewise, the displacer isn’t going to position itself where an opponent has an attack advantage because of the likelihood of disrupting its one unique trait.

Another important factor to remember is the melee range of its tentacles is 10 feet, not 5 feet, which means it doesn’t have to be right next to its target to hit. These creatures are well-known for their love of the kill, and a displacer beast hunts not just for food but for sport as well. With a predator’s instincts, it targets the young, old, infirm, and those who are isolated from a group.

If they manage to kill a displacer beast, a resourceful party (with a DM’s blessing) could craft a cloak of displacement using the rules in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything (see: “Downtime Activities"). By those guidelines, it would take about 10 workweeks and 2,000 gp as well as proficiency with leatherworker’s tools or the Arcana skill.

Conversely, an adventuring party might want to take inspiration from history when displacer beasts were prized as guards and pets or trained by the Unseelie Court for hunting purposes. It’s easy to make a case for training these monstrosities like big cats but as fantasy history has shown, these creatures are difficult to fully domesticate. As with any cat that forms a bond with a humanoid, the displacer beast is likely asking itself: what’s in it for me? In a worst-case scenario, they may even turn on their trainers so adventurers should attempt to take on a new pet at their own risk. Like real world cats, they’re likely eager to do more than bat a mead mug off the tavern bar top.

That said, The Wild Beyond the Witchlight features a gentler version of the monstrosity and even has a stat block for a displacer beast kitten. And in Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage, the elf druid Wyllow has a displacer beast companion named Crissann. These examples may show more of the domesticated side of these creatures but beneath the warm and fuzzy façade lurks 500 lbs of “find out” ready to pounce into action.

These dangerous predators are sure to leave their mark on any game, whether presented as enemies or friends. In the case of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, they’re best served with a side of gelatinous cube.

Guide to Monsters: Displacer Beast - Dungeons & Dragons Honor Among Thieves (2024)

FAQs

What is the disadvantage of the displacer beast? ›

The displacer beast projects a magical illusion that makes it appear to be standing near its actual location, causing attack rolls against it to have disadvantage. If it is hit by an attack, this trait is disrupted until the end of its next turn.

Are displacer beasts always evil? ›

The displacer beast is lawful evil in the Monster Manual of D&D 3.0, 3.5, and 5th edition. In other editions, they are variously neutral (1e, 2e, B/X, BECMI, RC); unaligned (4e); neutral (evil) (Holmes Basic); and chaotic in the original Greyhawk supplement.

What is the displacer beast weak to? ›

Amusingly, you can displace a displacer beast into water or lava, killing it instantly ("The displacer beast drowns" and "The displacer beast burns to a crisp", respectively).

How to convince the displacer beast to help you? ›

The displacer beast in particular can be persuaded to join you if you use Speak with Animals. Examining the spider meat it feasts on may reveal that it's laced with a potion, so discussing this with the beast can turn it against Yurgir.

Can displacer beasts be good? ›

Displacer Beasts can hunt solo or in groups, so you can vary the challenge level of the encounter significantly. Displacer Beasts are great for conducting hit-and-run attacks.

Are displacer beasts fey? ›

The closest relations to these sleek predators would have to be panthers and other large cats, but they diverged at some ancient time. Displacer Beasts are not fey yet originate in their current form from the Feywilds.

How high can a displacer beast jump? ›

Their jumping height was around 20 feet (6.1 meters) up and 25 feet (7.6 meters) forward. The length was doubled if running. The creatures were not very intelligent, but they were more so than animals and could even speak some Common.

Are displacer beasts sentient? ›

Though they cannot speak, displacer beasts are intelligent pack creatures that can understand language. This aspect of a monster's intelligence should never be overlooked as it makes them far more than just an aggressive animal.

Why are they called displacer beasts? ›

A displacer beast is a magical six-legged black panther-like feline with a pair of tentacles growing from its shoulders; the beast has an innate "displacement" ability, causing it appear to be several feet away from its actual location.

How long do displacer beasts live for? ›

It was believed that displacers could live up to a hundred years. In some breeds, they appeared thin as if emaciated. The creatures had striking emerald-green eyes that glowed with malevolence. The green radiance continued even after the creature's demise.

Can displacer beasts go invisible? ›

A displacer beast's coat is slick with illusory magic that can bend light, letting it project images of itself and turn invisible.

How much HP does a displacer beast have? ›

The Displacer Beast
Displacer BeastDisplacer Beast Pack Lord
Large Magical BeastHuge Magical Beast
Hit Dice:6d10+18 (51 hp)18d10+192 (203 hp)
Initiative:+2+1
Speed:40 ft. (8 squares)40 ft. (8 squares)
18 more rows

How to run a displacer beast? ›

When you run a displacer beast encounter, you should choose whether food or sport is the governing motivation and have your beast(s) behave accordingly. A displacer beast hunting for sport will attack and Disengage, attack and Disengage, unless and until its opponents' reactions force it to respond in other ways.

How much damage does a displacer beast do? ›

Highly aggressive, the displacer beast will attack on sight, using its tentacles to inflict 2-8 (2d4) points of damage to its victims. Their main advantage in combat is their magical power of displacement, which allows them to appear to be some 3 feet from their actual location.

How to turn the displacer beast against yuregir? ›

You can convince the displacer beast to fight with you if you check the spider corpses to search for poison or talk with the vendor there and pass a check.

How does displacer beast work in BG3? ›

Displacer Beast Shape allows a creature to polymorph into a displacer beast. A displacer beast's coat is slick with illusory magic that can bend light, letting it project images of itself and turn invisible.

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